Rathindra Bose, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School,
called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Bose welcomed the new Graduate Council
members and the returning members.

Announcements

Bose announced that for FY 04, NIU received $49 million in extramural funding,
an amount significantly higher than the previous year.
Bose next explained that the Graduate School has been asked to reduce operating
expenses due to a tremendous deficit in the Graduate School’s budget.
Bose further explained that this deficit was not the fault of the previous dean
of the Graduate School as he was spending money on behalf of colleges for their
needs through appropriate authorization by the Provost’s Office. Nonetheless,
he did not pursue the questions, who created the deficit, how did it happen,
how much was real deficit, why it is the new dean’s responsibility, etc.
and decided to move forward with minimal resources at hand with cooperation
from faculty and students.
A question was raised regarding the Graduate School’s ability to support
faculty travel. Bose explained that although the Graduate School is currently
not able to support such requests, he is working on a 2-year cycle and hopes
to be able to resume supporting faculty travel after that time.
Bose then announced that the Higher Learning Commission report was released
September 2, 2004, and that NIU’s accreditation has been approved for
the next 10 years.

Priority Business

Selection of an Assistant Chair of the Graduate Council: This person
will serve as chair when the chair is gone and assist on the agenda when called
upon. The assistant chair also serves as an ex officio member on the University
Council. A motion was made by Harris, seconded by Changnon, to nominate Diana
Swanson. Swanson accepted the nomination, which was unanimously approved.

Standing Committees of the Graduate Council: Over the summer, Graduate
Council faculty members were invited to serve on two committees, students on
one. Faculty were placed on at least one of their choices, with some of them
invited to be chairs of particular committees. Additional vacancies were then
filled with non-Council members to assure appropriate representation by college.
Approval for the standing committees list as distributed was moved by Gowen,
seconded by Swanson; motion passed.

Selection of a graduate student to the University’s Libraries Advisory
Committee: Waas moved to nominate Tanya Muskievicz for this position, seconded
by Jackson. Muskievicz accepted the nomination which passed unanimously.

Selection of a graduate student to the Campus Security and Environmental
Quality Committee: Carnahan moved to nominate Kris Campbell for this position,
seconded by Swanson. Campbell accepted the nomination which passed unanimously.

Selection of a graduate student and two faculty members to the University
Assessment Panel: Cole moved to nominate Kim Darrah for the graduate student
position, seconded by Carnahan. Darrah accepted the nomination which passed
unanimously.
Swanson moved to nominate Nancy Nuzzo and David Changnon (both served 2003-2004)
for the faculty member positions, seconded by Russell and unanimously approved.

Committee Reports

Graduate Council Appeals Committee

Willis gave the annual report of this committee. The committee
acted upon a total of 31 cases for the 2003-2004 academic year. Of these, 1
was subsequently withdrawn, and 4 were denied for lack of compelling justification
and/or departmental support. The remaining 26 were approved. Willis will submit
a written report to all members providing further details of the cases.

Old Business

Name Change: Bose reported that the proposed name change from the
“Graduate School” to “Division of Research and Graduate Studies”
(with the Graduate School as a unit within the division) that was approved at
the December 1, 2003 Graduate Council meeting was put before the Deans’
Council twice for discussion by the Provost. The proposed name change was meet
with opposition both times. Bose also reported that he made the suggestion to
drop the “Division” from the name to “Research and Graduate
Studies”. That proposal was also declined by the Provost. The Provost
has authorized that instead the name be changed to the “Office of Research
and Graduate Studies”. Several members indicated that such a change to
“Office of Research and Graduate Studies” would not serve the purpose
that was discussed in last December’s meeting and, therefore, there was
no need to make a cosmetic change. In light of this new development, some members
suggested that the Graduate School develop a well-designed website highlighting
research and artistry activities and retain the original name, Graduate School.
Accordingly, Factor moved that the name “Graduate School” be retained,
and that the website be modified to highlight the role of research. Waas seconded
the motion which was unanimously approved.

Bose announced that President Peters has made a special allocation of $150,000
to fund the Summer Research and Artistry program this year. However, the Graduate
School will not be able to supplement with additional funds as in past years.
With less funding available this year, it was suggested that $100,000 be awarded
towards summer salaries, with the remaining $50,000 to be awarded for “other
items”. Bose will send revised “Requests for Proposals” guidelines
to the Research and Artistry committee members for their review prior to mailing
out to the departments.